The Girl in White
by WearerOfCapes
Summary: Loki isn't dead. He's just trapped where the Avengers left him. But bonds can break, and this time, Loki has power beyond that of the Tesseract. And when a mysterious girl in white turns up, the Avengers must question their methods, their morals, and their feelings... Implied OC/just about everyone, plus possible slash later on. T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! This is my first Avengers fanfiction, and I'm not sure what I'm doing really, but I think it's okay. Well, I don't know. It gets better as it goes on. Anyway. I wrote the first six chapters in exam week during the two days in which I had _no exams at all_ but had to sit in silence and work. So I did something interesting. I love the Avengers, but I've only seen it once, so if the characters seem a bit dodgy, please don't kill me, they aren't showing it in my local cinema anymore so I can't see it again :( Yeah, anyhoo, I'm rambling. So, enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers because I do not work for Marvel :(**

Steve Rogers lay on the California beach, sunglasses on, dozing slightly as the sun began to set. It was mid-April, and warm enough that the beach parties had begun. One was being set up a little way down the sand from where he lay. As music began to blare loudly, he opened his eyes and sat up, lifting his sunglasses. He saw people jumping up and down in time to the beat and smiled. Lying down again, he still couldn't help but wonder at how things had come along since his time. They could just plug in those huge black blocks, and they were away. Amazing.

* * *

Tony Stark was a little busier. He was mixing drinks behind the bar of his home in Stark/Avengers tower (he still preferred the name Stark tower). His party was in full swing, and as he slid martinis to three of his guests, he grinned. Another guest approached him and he passed her a drink too. She smiled and he left the bar to mingle with his guests, flattering or patronising where he saw fit. After all, you always invited a few people you didn't like to a party. Or he did, anyway. It made things more interesting.

* * *

Bruce Banner sat down at his desk with a cup of strong coffee and several pages of notes on a patient suffering with an unknown disease. Well, maybe suffering was the wrong word. It looked unpleasant, but they weren't in any pain. It was a disease no one had yet been able to identify; it was unknown and unheard of. But since the patient wasn't in pain, he could take his time over it. It was a pleasure to sit here puzzling it out, watching the rain over the Scottish highlands out of the window.

* * *

Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton finally threw caution to the wind, doing 120 on a Russian mountain road in a sleek silver convertible. The wind was freezing, but they were wrapped up in layers of furs. Both of them were exhilarated to feel the wind through their hair. They weren't running from anything. Not even _to_ anything. They were just looking for a thrill, and driving like maniacs did the job perfectly.

* * *

Thor strode through the halls of Asgard, Odin at his side. They discussed the current state of Earth, the effort still going into fixing New York City after last year's attacks. As they passed by a burnished bronze podium, Thor held out his hand, and Mjolnir flew into it. He smiled slightly as he said:

"Time to check on the beast." Odin nodded and turned left, down another marbled corridor. Thor carried straight on, then down a long flight of stairs. These stairs were the least grand in all of Asgard, and went down the furthest. They led to the dungeons. Thor reached it and looked around. There were fifteen cells, seven along each of the left and right walls, and a larger one at the very back. This one contained chains, charms, and Loki. Thor strolled over, taking his time, saying:

"So, brother, how are we today?" There was no reply. There was no reply. There wouldn't be, of course. Loki had been gagged for many months; his lies spread too easily to let him speak. Thor reached the cage and stared into the darkness inside. The _empty_ darkness. He scowled. This must be one of Loki's tricks. He had to still be there; Odin had placed the security charms himself. The cage should have been impenetrable from either side. And yet… if Loki was just playing invisible, the chains would keep his shape. Instead, they hung loose, trailing across the ground. Thor noticed a discarded gag lying next to them, and began to panic.

"Guards!" He roared. Several men wearing winged helmets ran down the steps. "Loki has escaped." He explained urgently. "We need to search for him. Take everyone you can find and search all of Asgard." The guards nodded and jogged away. Thor returned to the throne room where he knew the rest of his kin would be. He saw no time to run, so used Mjolnir to fly down the halls. He burst into the throne room and shouted:

"Loki is gone!" Everyone grew silent, turning to look at him with expressions of horror.

"But… how?" Frigg asked.

"Mother, I know not. But I know what must be done."

"Thor, you cannot!" Sif cried. "How will you do it?"

"Sif, you know how I will do it. The Tesseract is the only way. I have a duty to the people of Midgard, and a duty to Director Fury. They need to know what could be unleashed again." Sif nodded mutely and turned away. A guard rushed in and said:

"There is no sign of him, my lord."

"I thought as much." Thor said. "I will go. I will use the Tesseract. But I ask this: When I am on Midgard, someone must use their powers and bring the Tesseract back to Asgard. It is too dangerous to let it remain with the humans."

"But… Thor. That means you will be trapped on Earth."

"I know. I will accept that to save the humans. I am but one person. They are many."

"I will bring the Tesseract back." Odin emerged from a narrow corridor at the end of the throne room. "Your duty is important, my son. Come with me." Thor nodded, said a brief farewell to his family, and followed Odin to the room where the Tesseract was kept. Thor picked up the metal container that no one had ever removed it from. Odin nodded, and they twisted each end, Odin letting go at the last second. Blue light surrounded him, and he felt Earth's distant gravity dragging him down…

He woke up on a dusty plain in the evening sunlight. He slowly held up the Tesseract, and a tendril of bronze fire lifted it into the air and away, back to Asgard. This was it now. He was stuck on Earth. But at least this time he had Mjolnir. He wasn't helpless. However, he didn't know where he was. That could be an issue. He stood up, shook the dust from his hair, and started walking, looking for civilisation. But after half an hour, he was exhausted, hot, and no closer to… well, anything, really. He turned around full circle, facing the way he had come, and cursed to himself in Old Norse. There was a huge building not far from where he had started off. He advanced towards it, noticing as he did that there was a large image on the concrete floor in front of it. As he got closer, he realised that it was a very familiar image; a rather square shaped eagle, wings spread in flight.

"Oh." He said. "Well, that was easy."

**Aaargh, it looks so weird! It's too bitty. This will not go on for long, I promise you. Next chapter will be better (I hope). Reviews and constructive criticism are lovely lovely things :)**

**Thanks for reading :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter two has landed! Time to introduce the OC... It still seems a little bit weird and bitty, but I think it's a bit better this time. Also, can I say, I've had a couple of people add this to story alert already? Thank you if you did :) On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, but I do own my OC ;)**

The corridors seemed even longer than they had done before, especially with the two armed security guards by his sides. Thor had… worried a few people upon entering SHIELD's new Headquarters, but someone had recognised him and seen to it that he got to Director Fury. The security guards stopped outside a long black door. They left Thor behind as he knocked on it. There was silence from within. However, as he knocked again, hard enough to rattle the door, it was answered by a bald, angry-looking man with an eye patch. He looked at Thor intently.

"Well, well." He said. "The god of thunder. What's your business here?"

"I have important news."

"Well, go on, then."

"Loki has escaped." Fury, who had previously been watching his computer screens carefully, looked up.

"And the Tesseract?" He asked.

"It is still safe with us. I used it to travel here, and then sent it back to Asgard."

"So you're stuck here?"

"Yes. I believed I owed you the truth as soon as possible; that is far more important than my comfort." Fury nodded slowly.

"Thank you for the information. As you know, we will have to contact the other Avengers; wherever they are, they need to get here."

"I was aware of this, yes. If you need assistance in reaching them, I-"

"We'll be fine, thank you. No offense, but you aren't good with our technology."

* * *

Half an hour later, Captain America was woken up as sand blew into his face. The partygoers down the beach were dancing happily, despite the minor sandstorm that was being whipped up by the SHIELD helicopter. Steve Rogers stood up and stared. He knew this day would come; just not that it would be quite so soon. He ran over to the chopper and got in. He said to the pilot:

"What's happened?"

"Loki. He's escaped from Asgard." The pilot replied.

"Am I the only one?" He looked around at the empty helicopter.

"No, just the first. You were nearest, and you don't have a phone. Stark, Barton and Romanov are getting here their own ways. We need to go get Banner; no one can get a hold of him."

"Alright." Steve sat down and strapped on a headset, then realised there was something he didn't know. "Hold on. I was nearest to what?"

"New HQ. You and Stark are the only Avengers still in the USA."

"What state is it in?"

"Nevada. Middle of the desert."

"Alright. So, where's Bruce?"

"Scotland. Still working as a doctor."

"Great."

"Yeah, it's gonna be a long ride."

* * *

Black Widow picked up the phone and heard a voice she recognised.

"Fury?" She shouted over the sound of the wind. She turned to her companion and said: "Clint, slow down." He did so, and the wind lessened slightly. Into the phone, she said: "Sorry. What was it?" A long pause. "Loki? But that's not… No, I know, obviously… Yes, we can transport ourselves. As soon as we find a plane to steal." She hung up and told Clint: "We need to go back down."

"I know. Loki, right? We need a plane."

"Precisely. Turn around." She held on as Hawkeye performed a sharp U-turn and accelerated down the mountain, towards the airfield they knew was not far away.

* * *

Stark pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open, excusing himself from the overly-amorous guest whom he had been avoiding all day, but had finally caught up with him. After a short battle, he answered the phone.

"Hello? Oh, Mr Fury, hello again… Ooh, really? Loki? I'd better suit up, I guess… Yup. Gimme an hour. I'll be there." He flipped the phone closed again, and stood on a table to address his guests, wobbling slightly.

"Hey there, everyone. Listen, I'm very sorry, but you're gonna have to clear out, you all know my job, and I got work to do."

"What's happened?" called one guest.

"Oh, it's probably nothing. False alarm, I daresay. But I gotta get my suit on, and no one likes changing in public." The guests sighed and grumbled, but left his apartment.

"Alright." Stark said. "JARVIS? You ready?"

"Never more so, sir."

"Then let's go."

* * *

Bruce Banner climbed into the helicopter reluctantly, leaving his patient's notes behind for a colleague to deal with. However, he did have the equipment they had used to track Loki the year before. He thought it could come in useful, and it would be nice to see something familiar in the new lab. He sorted himself out in the helicopter, and was greeted warmly by Steve as they took off.

"Dr Banner, how are you?" he said.

"I'm good, thank you. But call me Bruce, please. I think we've been through enough to count each other as friends now."

"I'm sorry. I'm still not quite up to date with this century."

"Not a problem, my friend. Where are we headed?"

"Nevada; that's where the new HQ is."

"Alright then. That's a damn long way from Scotland."

"I know. But you know the drill."

"I do. Loki again?"

"Of course."

* * *

Hawkeye landed the plane on the SHIELD airfield and disembarked, followed closely by Black Widow. They were back in their uniforms now, ready to do what was necessary. But as they were walking to the doors, Natasha stopped. She said:

"We're being watched, I can feel it. Go inside."

"What?"

"Go inside. I can deal with this." Clint hesitated, but nodded and did as he was told, as he didn't have his trusty bow with him. Natasha took out her gun and said:

"Alright, I know you're out here. Come on. I won't hurt you. Much." Suddenly, she found herself on the ground, her gun having skittered a few feet away across the concrete. She sat up and found herself facing a young girl dressed in a sleeveless white jumpsuit, holding two long swords.

"Who are you?" Natasha asked.

"That's none of your business." The girl swung her swords around, only just giving Natasha enough time to duck. She picked up her gun and began to fire shots at the girl, but she was agile. She dodged all six, then, without giving her time to reload, jumped high in the air, spun around, and caught her across the jaw with her heavy white Doc Marten boots. Natasha swayed, stepped back, and sat down heavily. The girl advanced on her with a sword. But seconds later, she was caught by the shoulder and forced back, down onto the ground. She got up quickly, but froze when the barrel of Nick Fury's gun was pressed to her neck.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I got here by accident."

"And your name?" She was silent. "I said, _your name_?" he pressed a little harder with the gun.

"That's not something I'm willing to tell you."

"Then you leave me no choice." He pulled back the hammer of the gun and she relented.

"Alright! They call me Flame. That's all I'm saying."

**Okay, you know what, I've decided that I cannot have this bittiness anymore. From the next chapter, I will do this in First person POV. Hope that doesn't make it weird or something. Anyway. Reviews are lovely things to recieve ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello! Sorry this took me so long to update, I had it all written and everything, so I had no excuse. Basically, I watched Sherlock Holmes twice, and discovered a Youtuber called AmazingPhil. That's it. Anyway, first person POV! Aaargh. I wrote this in third person but it was annoying me, so I had to convert it. But you know. All cool if it makes you enjoy it :) Which I hope you do, BTW.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC and my weirdo storyline :P**

Flame's POV

The two agents and Nick Fury escorted me into the Headquarters and into an interrogation room. Fury made them wait outside, and sat me down in a chair. Then he leant calmly on the wall and questioned me.

"So, are you human?"

"Yes, of course."

"Do you have powers?"

"How do you define powers?" I asked, still feeling awkward and cocky.

"Do you, for example, have an iron suit, or are you invincible?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Then you don't have powers. But you fight well. Who trained you?"

"I'm not under obligation to say that." I told him.

"Just tell me, damn it!"

"I was trained as an assassin." I said grudgingly. "Seven years, I fought like that. I could beat anyone you threw at me."

"Really? Well, we could see whether that's true or not…" I panicked suddenly, and told him precisely what I had been meaning to keep to myself.

"Listen, you said I don't have powers. But I said it was nothing like what you mentioned. Maybe I have different ones. What then?"

"Well, what powers do you think you have?"

"I can control fire. Is that a power?"

"That could certainly be called a power. Show me. Gently." I closed my eyes and put my hands together like I was praying. Feeling the warmth building up in my palms, I brought them apart slowly, and felt a small ball of broiling fire expand in the space. I opened my eyes and turned my palms upwards, and watched as the flames leapt upwards and grew towards the ceiling. When I pressed my hands back together, they dissipated.

"Very good." Fury said, approval not quite reaching his voice. "Can you use that as an offensive?"

"I don't know." I admitted.

"Can you expand it away from your body?"

"I don't know."

"Can you make the fire spread to other objects?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Would you like to join the Avengers Initiative?"

"I- What?" I stopped dead, confused.

"The Avengers. You must have heard about the attacks in New York last year?"

"Yes, of course, everyone has."

"The Avengers were the team that stopped the attacks, and I believe you to be worthy of joining them." I understood a little better now, but I still didn't know why they'd want _me_ in their team.

"But… Why?"

"Because Loki has escaped again, and we need all the help we can get, even if you're it. Are you interested?"

"I… I need to think."

"With all due respect, kid, you don't have time to think. We need a decision." I took a deep breath and made one.

"Alright. I'll do it. Where are the others?"

"All over. You just beat one of them up." My eyebrows shot up.

"That was one of the Avengers?"

"That was Black Widow, real name Natasha Romanov, and the man with her we call Hawkeye, really Clint Barton."

"Oh."

"Come on, we need to go to the briefing room. The others should be along soon, and if Romanov and Barton have any sense they'll have done what I told them and already got there." We left the interrogation room and walked through the rat's nest of corridors until we reached a large room with one wall made entirely out of glass. There was a large table and ten chairs set out in the centre, and a few oddly futuristic computer screens dotted around the walls. Two chairs were occupied by the agents I had attacked, Hawkeye and Black Widow, both of whom looked at me with cautious hostility. I returned a worried look, but was more focused on the tall figure standing by the window. He didn't turn until I sat down. I had to try not to stare. He had long blond hair and blue eyes that I could see shining from across the room. He wore strange metal armour, but his well-muscled arms were bare. He caught my eye and I attempted a smile, but it was an expression I was unused to, and he just frowned in confusion.

"Director Fury," he said, "Who is this?"

"Thor, this is-" He cut off as the door burst open and three men walked in, one of them in a red metal suit. They seemed to be talking about Loki.

"Look, if we don't stop him, there's no telling what he could do." The blond one said.

"I know that, it's just that we don't know how we can stop him." Insisted the one with the armour and the crazy facial hair.

"We could probably track him again. He probably absorbed a lot of gamma from the Tesseract. We can use the gamma signature to find him." Replied the one with glasses.

"Glad you three made it. Sit down." Fury said. Gesturing at them in order, he told me: "This is Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Doctor Bruce Banner." I smiled at them nervously, but they were being cautious of Fury's temper and didn't notice. They sat far away from me as Fury began:

"Alright. You know how this works. Loki has escaped his prison on Asgard. We suspect he's on Earth, as that seems to be his favourite hang-out. We need to find him and finish whatever scheme he's cooking up this time, then get him off this planet for good." The others nodded, Thor somewhat sadly, I noted. Then Natasha piped up:

"Sir, I have a question."

"Go on." She pointed dramatically at me.

"Why in the name of all that's holy have you brought her in here?"

"Because she managed to knock you on the ground and keep you there. Because she has powers. Because she is the latest Avenger." By now, everyone was staring, and I blushed to the roots of my hair. But Doctor Banner held out a hand across the table and said:

"Welcome to the team." I shook it nervously and replied:

"Thank you."

"So, can I ask how you came to be here?" he asked.

"Um… maybe later?" I mumbled.

"Oh, come on." Tony Stark said. "Everyone's got previous. We'd like to hear yours."

"If she doesn't want to tell us, I don't see why it really matters." Steve Rogers said.

"Well, I for one am intrigued." Thor said, smiling slightly. Fury sighed.

"Alright. Go on, Flame." I took a deep, nervous breath and began, keeping my eyes down, looking at the table.

"Well, it started when I had just turned eleven. I was caught in a house fire. The entire place was razed to the ground. It killed my parents, but the fire-fighters found me wandering around the streets a few hours later without a single burn. That's where my powers came from. I was put into foster care, and I started a new school. We went on a school trip to Vancouver for three days, and I got lost. I was picked up by this old man dressed all in white. I didn't want to go, but he was strong. He took me to this place… I can't describe it anymore. Something happened, and I don't remember it all that well. I just remember… it was so white. I stayed there with a lot of others like me, kids my age, for seven years. And they trained me as an assassin. When I and a few others got good enough, they took us out of the white place, and sent us to infiltrate… well, they called it 'the association of the devil'. I don't even know what that place was, because I spoke out of turn in the van, and they threw me out into the desert. About a half-mile from your HQ. I walked here, I hid. I saw her, Black Widow, and I thought she'd kill me. So I decided to move first. Sorry about that, by the way." I apologised to Natasha.

"It's fine." She said sullenly, showing no sign of forgiveness.

"Can I ask you something?" Steve said.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." I replied.

"Why are you called Flame?"

"My real name is Breanna Lin. Flame is the name they gave me when they found out my powers."

"What are your powers?" Clint asked. I turned to Fury and asked:

"Should I show them?"

"Go ahead." I nodded and lay my palms out flat, facing upwards. Almost immediately, I felt the heat rise and the flames leapt up towards the roof. I listened calmly to the gasps audible above the crackling of the flames. Then I clapped my hands and let the fire disappear. Finally, I looked at their faces, listened to their silence as we stared at each other in worried awe.

**Anti-climax... Why can't I do good endings? Ah well. Hope you liked it, and a review would be more awesome than Pop-tarts :3**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry this took me so long to update! I keep forgetting, I'm an idiot. But it's here now, and the next chapter will be in the next couple of days, I promise. Time to introduce a few Avengers in detail, I think... I hope you like it :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, except the newest one...**

Still Anna's POV

Finally Fury had to step in:

"Alright, stop your gawking. We have work to do. Stark, Rogers, I want you in the lab. Banner, you can set up your equipment with them. Barton, Thor, Romanov, come with me. We need to try and find Loki before he knows we're onto him. Lin, you make yourself useful wherever you can, and for god's sake don't get in the way." I nodded, intimidated, and everyone followed where they had been told. Except Doctor Banner. He moved to sit next me.

"Hey, Flame." He said gently. "You don't mind if I call you Flame, do you?"

"Most people call me Bree. Or Anna. I prefer Anna."

"Okay." He nodded. "Anna. So, are you okay? You look lost."

"I am. I'm… Incredibly worried."

"What about?"

"Well, what if I let you all down? What if I let Loki in? What then?"

"Anna, if you knocked Natasha Romanov down and she stayed there, you have nothing to worry about. Not one of us has managed that. Not whilst in a… normal state, at least." I frowned in confusion, but suddenly something clicked, a fragment of memory from the stories I had been told in the Academy.

"Oh. Oh! You're the one who changes, aren't you? The Hulk? You knocked her down when you changed, right?"

"Yeah. This is why I'm so interested in you. You and me, we're the only people who have been through a physical change that was not deliberate. I mean, Tony has his metal suit, Steve had a weird concoction injected into him, Thor's a demigod, and Hawkeye and Black Widow are just incredibly skilled fighters."

"How do they manage that?"

"They're like you; they were trained as assassins."

"Oh." I thought back over the last few minutes of our conversation. "Hold on. You find me interesting?"

"Of course. We all do. Did you see Fury's face? He's curious about you, about how someone so young could have done what you did."

"Wow. At least I made an impression."

"You did that alright. Hey, do you want to come to the lab with me?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"I need to set up my instruments. Last time Loki was here, he stole the Tesseract, and we used its gamma signature to track him. Now, radiation tends to stick around, so with any luck, he'll still be full of it, and we can track him down again."

"Good plan. But what if he isn't still full of enough gamma?"

"Then we have a problem." We set off towards the lab in silence. I let him lead, as he seemed to know what he was doing, although we did retrace our steps a couple of times. As we passed through a narrow, quiet corridor, I was struck with an idea, seeing the security cameras at each end.

"You know, I've heard a lot about all of you; they used to tell us that you Avengers were 'the enemy'." I laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. "Obviously you aren't, but they used to tell us a lot about Tony Stark. And I heard he's pretty good at hacking into things. Do you think you could narrow down the area that Loki might be in, then get Tony to hack into the security cameras in that area? That'd certainly let you see him."

"You know, that isn't bad. For a rookie." He joked. I mock-glared at him, and he laughed. "I'm kidding. Yeah, that's good, I'll ask Tony later. Thank you."

"My pleasure, sir."

"Not, sir, please. Don't even call me Doctor Banner. You're part of the team now. Just call me Bruce."

When Bruce and I arrived in the lab, Tony was arm-wrestling with Steve, still wearing his metal suit.

"Yep, it's looking real productive in here." Bruce said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me.

"Hold on!" I heard Tony exclaim. "I'm almost winning!" However, his concentration slipped, and Steve slammed his hand down on the table, much to my amusement.

"Aw, man." Stark flexed his arm and continued. "I could've won that. This suit is incredible."

"Alright, Tony, we believe you. Now go take it off, we have better things to do." Bruce looked like he was telling him off, but I saw the glint in his eye that told me he wanted to laugh.

"On it." He left the room, humming tunelessly inside his iron shell. Bruce put down his case full of instruments on the long metal bench and said:

"Okay, d'you two think you could give me a hand with these?"

"Sure." Steve got up and began to carefully unpack the delicate equipment. I went over and started to sort the components into sections, finding the ones which seemed to go together. When everything was out and organised, Bruce made a few quiet adjustments to the piles. I blushed and watched as he started to put them all together, occasionally asking us to hold things or hand him other parts. After a while, he had just a little left to do, so he told Steve:

"You can go if you want. There's not a left to do, and you look bored. I'm sure Director Fury would appreciate your help."

"Will you be okay?" Steve replied.

"I think Anna and I have it under control." Bruce smiled, and Steve departed with a nod. Within a few seconds of him leaving though, Tony came back in.

"Took you an awfully long time just to take off a suit." Bruce said.

"Sorry, I, uh, got busy suddenly. Y'know, doing… stuff. Anyway, doesn't seem like you're doing too badly here with our friend Flame." I sighed.

"Call me Anna, please."

"I certainly will. Call you." He winked and made a hand gesture resembling a phone. I blushed, cringed slightly, and turned back to what I was doing. But after a few more minutes, we finished putting the instruments back together, and Bruce started calibrating them to trace Loki's faint gamma signature. He said:

"Tony, we have a plan relating to this, and it involves you."

"Oh, really? Care to explain?"

"Well, it was Anna's idea… Can I leave it to you to explain?" I nodded and turned back to Tony, beginning to explain.

"Once the instruments have narrowed down the area we think Loki could be in, you'll hack all the security cameras in that area, and hopefully we can see him that way."

"Hm. Good idea; I'm involved but I don't have to do too much work. Great. I like it."

"Thanks." I sat down one stool next to the bench, watching Tony as he stood in the corner reading an old file.

"So, Bruce," He said, "How long is it gonna take to find him?"

"Anything from two hours to two days. I've recalibrated the energy parameters though, so hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later."

"Well, I'm glad you two know what you're doing." I said, fairly bewildered.

"I don't." Tony responded. He hesitated as Bruce looked at him over his glasses. "What? I don't. Just throwing it out there." Bruce shook his head and stood up.

"Look, I'm not feeling great. I think I'm gonna call it a day."

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, just… I don't know. I'll be fine in the morning. Could you two stay here and look after the instruments? Make sure nothing happens."

"Sure."

"Thanks, Anna." He smiled. "Goodnight." He walked out of the lab, leaving me alone with Tony Stark.

**So much dialogue! Still, what do you think about Anna and her Avenger buddies? Let me know :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Alright, so. I'm not at school because I thought I had food poisoning from the barbecue we had last night, but I feel better now. So I thought I'd do something constructive. Therefore, here is chapter five for your pleasure. Forgive the sappiness.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Breanna Lin.**

Tony sat down in the lab's only swivel chair and started to spin.

"So." He said. "Anna. I'm curious about you."

"It seems like everyone is." I replied.

"Why is that?"

"Well, Bruce thinks it's because I didn't become like this deliberately. You know, with the whole fire thing…" I tailed off.

"Yeah? Well, that certainly does make me interested in you. Of course, so do a lot of other things about you. If you know what I mean."

"Tony Stark, you are an outrageous flirt."

"Oh, I know that." I wanted to be angry at his arrogance, but couldn't help smiling at his obvious knowledge of how annoying he was.

"Is there anything you _don't_ know?" I asked.

"Not much." He got up and came over to sit in the stool next to me. "How are you finding it here?"

"Oh, you know… not bad."

"You mean awful, right?"

"No, no, just… It's kind of intimidating. This place is huge, I've had _nothing_ explained to me, and I don't know anyone. Well, I don't know about that, actually. I kind of know Bruce better. And I've heard so much about you I could know you."

"What kind of things have you heard?" He asked warily.

"Mostly that you're an idiot playboy who has to flash his money around the place and lives in an iron suit because he's scared of dying."

"Those aren't good things." Tony muttered.

"Then prove them wrong! Talk to me about real things, without flirting with me. Tell me why this is happening."

"I don't know why this is happening. Maybe the only the only thing I don't know." I gave him a scathing look and he said: "Okay, sorry. I can tell you about me if you like." He smiled and winked at me, and I sighed.

"Go on then." I said. "But don't bother with how you got the suit. I know that part."

"Okay. Well… That's about all I can tell. I don't know. You got me."

"What about you and Doctor Banner? You look pretty close."

"We met the last time Loki was about. I'd known about him for a long time though, and I was like, whoa, massive fan. You know what he did? And what he does?"

"Yeah, I figured it out earlier."

"Well, I realised not long after we met that we're pretty similar. There are elements to both of us that we can't control."

"I understand how Bruce would… have trouble with that, but what about you? You seem pretty much in control of that suit."

"Ah, but a part of the suit is under my skin. Inside. This light-" He touched the glowing light in his chest through his shirt "-is an arc reactor, and it's all that's keeping me alive."

"I see." I said, even though I didn't. "Can I-?"

"Go ahead." I touched the light gently, worried about breaking his lifeline. It was strange, faintly warm, like skin, but less pliant. I removed my hand, frowned and blinked in confusion. Tony looked at me intently, with genuine concern in his eyes, which was odd.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, fine." I swallowed. "I just don't… I don't understand. How does it work, how are you not dead?"

"It's hard to explain."

"It worries me."

"Anna, don't worry. It's worked for a long time, I doubt it's gonna stop. Anyway, if you are gonna worry, don't do it about me. I'm Iron Man. I can look after myself. You, on the other hand… How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Eighteen! Wow. You see, you need to worry about yourself. I mean, you're good. Definitely good. But you need to train, and-"

"Tony."

"What?"

"Shut up."

"I'm sorry. But listen to me; you have a lot ahead of you. I've been the hero before, I'm used to it. Now it's gonna be your turn. And you don't wanna be worrying about it when the time comes. It'll never work."

"Okay."

"Now come here." He held out his arms for me to hug him. I hesitated, wary of him, but I needed comfort, and so hugged him gratefully. He held me tightly for a few minutes, making me feel better, but I realised something. I said:

"You do realise this is just friendly, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." He let go of me, and I mumbled:

"Thank you."

"It's my pleasure."

"You and Bruce have been the kindest to me so far. Bruce was the first to talk to me like a person, and now you've done this… Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me. As I say, I don't mind. I act like a total moron sometimes, and that's 'cause I am one sometimes. But not all the time."

"I know. So, we're friends, right?"

"Obviously."

"Will you help me train tomorrow then?"

"Uh… With your fire."

"Yeah."

"Um… I'm not sure how well the suit will stand up to that."

"Oh, come on."

"Look, I'll find someone else who's willing, I promise you. I just don't wanna risk my paintwork."

"Wuss."

"No way! Just extremely fond of my suit, and not fond of having to rebuild it all the time cause someone wrecked it again."

"Alright, fine! But you better find me someone, or you'll be doing it anyway." I threatened playfully.

"Fine." He smiled.

"I'm going to bed now, Tony. Goodnight." I left the lab and headed off to find a room.

In the end, I had to go and find someone to help me, as I got totally lost. Thankfully, I ran into Fury pacing the corridors, and he told me where to go, although somewhat impatiently. I ended up on the fourth floor in an area called 'Special accommodation'. Whether that was good or not, I neither knew nor cared. I found the room Fury had told me to use, 333, and went inside. I locked the door and looked around. There had to be a mirror on the opposite wall, didn't there. I sighed. My eyes were surrounded by black circles, caused by the previous night attempting to sleep on the van. My hair, which had been long enough to reach the small of my back the week before, had been hacked off in an untidy shoulder-length bob. My white jumpsuit was still fairly clean, at least. I didn't want to wear it in bed though, so I looked in the narrow wardrobe for something, anything else. Thankfully, there was a cotton top and some black shorts in there, which I put on, noting the SHIELD logo on the shoulder. After hanging up my jumpsuit, I got into bed, turned off the light with the pull-cord above me, and tried to drift off.

**Anna's tired :/**

**She'll be okay though! Reviews are awesome things (hint hint)**


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